"The scientist in me revels in the ethereal manifestations of the brain: the mind, consciousness, memory, language. The mechanic in me is satisfied by the clear fluid that rushes out of the end of a tube I insert into a patient's brain to relieve excessive pressure. In everyday surgical practice, the science may take a backseat to the handiwork, and that's okay. If you have an expanding blood clot in your head, you want a skilled brain mechanic, and preferably a swift one.

You don't care if your surgeon published a paper in Science or Nature."


That is SO true, and she sharply defines the difference between some one cut out to be a clinician and one cut out for basic sciences research.

That is an excerpt from a book "Another day in the Frontal Lobe" doing the popular non-fiction rounds this month.

I perhaps much prefer saying "It doesn't take a Rocket Scientist" to "It doesn't take a brain surgeon" when they're talking of smartness. Where do brain surgeons demonstrate superior intelligence, beyond their training? :D